All shutdown and no work makes Graham a dull boy

I’ve been reading SICP recently in my quest to extend my Computer Science knowledge. This is a task I’ve attempted before but never really had the time to devote a solid chunk of brain-power to. However, due to recent events, I find myself with more time on my hands than usual.^[1]

SICP to the rescue

This post will be short, but I imagine I’ll write another sometime soon as I work through this amazing book. Of course I’m not the only one who thinks so, but SICP is a good book. I mean, it’s a really good book. Within the first chapter, you’ve already used the Fibonacci numbers, primality testing, Newton’s Method, fixed-points and average damping, and continued fractions to explore the benefits of having functions as first class citizens. This book is amazing. I suppose that part of what makes it so good is its use of Scheme as its programming language; this leads to a minimal barrier between expressing the ideas and executing them. Even with that said, I’m still in awe of how good this book is.

Case In Point

As a case in point, I’ll include a quick write up I did to share with my Dad and his high school students.^[2] It was inspired by SICP’s handling of an interesting continued fraction.